Trouble for Mayawati as Allahabad High Court strikes down acquisition of 72 hectares in Greater Noida

As Mayawati battles farmers resisting the takeover of land for the Yamuna Expressway, a much bigger challenge to Uttar Pradesh's land policy could be headed her way from the courts. On Friday, the Allahabad High Court struck down the acquisition of 72 hectares in Greater Noida.

This, in turn, was preceded by a landmark Supreme Court judgement in April, which strikes at one of the key components of Mayawati's land acquisition strategy—that of using certain key provisions in land acquisition law to speed up a process that can take years. That judgement nullified the acquisition of 205 hectares, also in Greater Noida.

The Supreme Court judgement opens the floodgates to a series of legal challenges, of which the Allahabad HC judgement may well only be one of the first. The judgement has ramifications well beyond Uttar Pradesh of course, and could slow many land acquisition projects across India. Under the Land Acquisition Act, governments that acquire land must give the displaced a right to a hearing and to make objections.

But in certain cases where land is needed urgently, the government can skip the potentially time-consuming process of hearings and acquire land immediately after issuing a notification.

This was the key provision that many governments, including Mayawati's, have used to acquire land. The "urgency" provision was used to acquire land for the Yamuna Expressway, and for industrial projects in Greater Noida that are at the centre of the recent cases. In the case of the Yamuna Expressway, the Supreme Court last September upheld the Mayawati government's right to invoke the "urgency" provision—but her luck ran out in April this year.

The Supreme Court's observations were simple: the UP government claimed that land was needed for industrial development, but this didn't mean it was urgent. The process of establishing factories and obtaining clearances can take years even after land has been set aside. So even if land is acquired, an industry or township can come up overnight, or within a few weeks. "The objective of industrial development cannot be achieved by pressing some buttons on a computer screen," the court said.

THE PROBLEM

The Allahabad High Court on Friday struck down Mayawati's acquisition of 72 hectares in G. Noida.

WHY

It relied on a Supreme Court judgement delivered a month earlier. That judgement, also about land in Greater Noida, strikes at the heart of Mayawati's land acquisition strategy.

Mayawati used 'urgency' provisions in the law to acquire land quickly and without giving owners the right to a hearing.

The SC said she couldn't acquire land this way. It also framed broad principles by which land could be acquired by any government urgently.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The 'urgency' provisions have been used by governments to acquire land. Many such acquisitions face trouble after the ruling.